Korean Job Discussion Forums

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

My co-workers, I found out today, come here at 10:00 to study English for 1 hour, by the boss's demand. (Boss and wife arrive much later). Since they all live a distance away, the stay here, preparing, etc etc. They go home at 7:10 PM. They are busy all day. They make 800,000 won/month each.

I work 22 hours/week from 3-8 and go home every break period. I make 1.9 (no tax)

No wonder they barely talk to me!

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Hagwons and some universities can have very low salaries.

Do you have control of your schools rules and regulations? Are you aware of all the pay and bonuses they receive? If you really feel bad, why not give them each a gift certificate to make up the difference in salaries? Did they graduate from a highly valued university? Did they graduate from a foreign university?

Urban Household Income Growth Hits 4-Year Low
Households whose breadwinners held masters degrees, recorded 4.84 million won in monthly income last year, 2.4 times larger than the those with no higher education, whose income was 1.99 million won.

The income of those that finished elementary school was 2.01 million won, while middle-school graduate and high-school graduate households earned 2.28 million won and 2.68 million won per month, respectively. College graduates earned 3.66 million won per month.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200402/kt2004022316184710220.htm

Average Annual Salary of Newly Employed University Graduate is 24.72 Million Won
Distribution and service industries had the lowest yearly wages at 22.22 million won. Education, apparel and the leather industry provided 22.63 million won, the food and restaurant industries 23.03 million won, and the machine and steel industries 23.94 million won.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=020000&biid=2004022038228

hellofaniceguy · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: On your computer screen!

While I have empathy for the korean workers, it is their fault that they agree to work for slave wages. No one forces them to agree to such terms. All korean hokwon teachers need to have some guts and make a stand in order to make quality of life better for them. But they won't. So, it's their own fault. If hokwons can't find any slaves, er I mean, korean English teachers, business will suffer. They need to band together.

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

That's exactly it. It shouldn't be up to me to give them part of my pay (like they would take it) because the boss is too cheap to give them a raise and they are too conformist to complain.

150 students at 140,000 won each tuition = 21,000,000/month
3 K teachers = 2,400,000
1 K middle school teacher 1,200,000
1 bus driver - 1,500,000

He drives the big bus. His wife does everything else. They own the building. I think he could afford to pay everyone a little more. The Korean teachers work hard and they should ask/demand for more.

Saxiif · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: Seongnam

My Korean coworkers have it good, they teach five classes a day and I know they get over a million a month...

Juggertha · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Anyang, Korea

Aye, at my school as well. If i'm not mistaken they work 25 hours a week (classes actually not hours) same as me. And they get about 1.5 per month (might be just abit less). OUr Korean teachers are more than happy where they are (and we just hired another today... I helped interview the poor [nervous] girl).

Shadow · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Pusan, South Korea

I can certainly feel bad for the Korean workers but it's their own fault if they haven't got any guts to stand up for their rights. To add insult to injury, it's the their own people who are screwing them over. Have you seen how some of the directors talk to their subordinates? The workers just put their head down and take it while the Wan-jang rants and raves away at them. That's honour! That's BS.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

Saxiif · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: Seongnam

RedRob · Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Location: Narnia

Screw giving them money-you must be high.
What I will do is always buy them something when I ask for a favour eg:Can I borrow your language skill for 20 mins to order something off the Korean internet, I've done this many times for MManson tickets, a Yo etc. Shout 'em lunch, a box of Choccies, whatever, just something to say thanks for your time.

Skippy · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon

In the words of William Beckerson. "They hate you lily white A$$". (Check out William Beckerson's webpage for details).
They have to do things you do not have to worry about. Such as marks calling parents, etc.

Foreign English Teachers get a whole lot more money but there is a reason for that. Supply and Demand. Plus we are unique in a sense. We deserve what we get.

Should korean teachers get more? It depends. They should not be cheated. But a fair wage yes. But they can always quit and get another job (Which we can not do easily).

Your life is different then yours. You have different hardships.

My advice is comment that that they work hard. And never insult them by complaining to them about how hard you work. You complain about stupidity but do not complain about ohhh I had to work another 30 minutes today unpaid.

And for shawner88 you simplified the amount the schools makes. You have tonnes of other hidden costs - like rent, utilities, cleaning lady, advertising, loans, supplies, books, etc. Plus they are to run the school for profit remeber it is a business. Do not forget hagwons are not "non-profit organizations". There is a difference between you can afford to pay more and having to. Ask Nike about that. Why pay 1,000,000 when you can get people for 800,000.

Skippy the Caplitalistic Pig

hellofaniceguy · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: On your computer screen!

Someone posted that KT's at their hokwon get 1.5 for 25 classes a week! And I figure that the FT's are NOT getting over 2.0 if that. So, someone is getting screwed! Native English speaking teachers should be earning far more than KT's. If you're not, .....
1.5 for a KT and 1.8 1.9 for a FT. Bad numbers. How is it that the KT makes almost as much as FT's? Something is wrong.

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

The wage of being a korean hagwon teacher, in most cases, sucks.

It depends on school, location, etc.

At one hagwon, I know one korean teacher was making 1.5 (she worked 2 more hours a day than me) and another teacher, who had not graduated college yet, was making only about 600,000 a month.

On the flip-side, my new school just bought all of the Korean teachers (we're talking over 40 teachers) new laptops. They didn't buy them for the foreigners. Bummer, but that's life.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

I agree with the original poster. I feel sorry for them and I try to bake for them. I do what I can with my little toaster over.

Saying you have no sympathy for them because they took the job and don't stand up for themselves is a bit like saying you have no sympathy for an American who wants to see a third viable political party. Pretty hard to affect change in small numbers. You're talking about a subset of the population trying to change the way it's always been done in Korea. And we all know how much "but we've done it that way for 1,000 years" overrides everything else in Korea.

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003